On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 09:41:52 GMT, (Livingston) wrote:

$850 WOW!!!! i just put the apeture cover on, and view through the
small apeture, its a lot cheaper

That is not for filters, that amount is for my new 8" Newtonian
reflector on an EQ mount with a couple of new eyepieces to exploit the
telescope's capabilities.

Ah A misunderstanding... Good

With your methods and size aperture (?), what magnifications can you
use satisfactorily and how have your observations gone this year?

I have a 6" Newtonian, with a 4mm Eyepiece I get appx 300x, and with a
2x Barlow maybe 480x, however I am not a lover of magnification
numbers or F stop Numbers.
Theoretically Reducing the apeture does reduce Magnification, but it
also reduces the amount of light which will give Mars More contrast.

The reason I am not a Lover of magnification figures, is that there
are too many other variables to be taken into account, from where I am
in London Mars reaches perihelion later this evening, so it should be
very bright indeed, with Full aperture, hopefully in the early hours I
should get Phobos and Diemos, they will be around magnitude 11-12.
With the apeture stopped down to 8 cms, The South Polar Icecap will be
visible, as will some of the seas (they will show as slightly darker
areas) but thats about it.

Most of my observations this year has been Solar or Lunar, those are
the objects that grab my interest most, although tonight Saturn should
be good if we get a good "seeing" here in London, and towards the end
of the year Jupiter will stop hiding behind the sun, and come out to
play, and that should be good as well.


I have been very lucky with my observations, I have seen a total
eclipse, Halleys Comet, Halle-Bopp, Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
Mars, Solar flares, mass ejections and more Sunspots than i can shake
a stick at.

I have seen lots more, but our own Solar system fascinates me more
than deep sky objects

The next milestone for me will be June 08 2004, when Venus Will
Transit the Solar Disk, although I am hoping to catch the ISS doing
the same thing in late Sept



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The two most abundant elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.
Why is the ratio of Hydrogen to Stupidity less in usenet than anywhere else in the universe?